Assignment

Rig developed from a quest to find ideal letter shapes for a shaded typeface, while maintaining geometric principles. Each character was designed to ensure maximum clarity and harmony when combined with 3D effects. Both the extrude and shading styles have been handcrafted to produce consistent weight and tone.

Influenced by 3D lettering and sign painting, Rig aims to harness the vibrancy of these custom styles. The Rig Shaded family has four weights, each with two shading styles, to provide a breath of applications.

Approach

The letterforms and their partner extrudes were designed in tandem to provide visual harmony. Relationships have been built between the stem widths, extrude depths and the spacing in each weight to aid the rhythm and uniformity of the type. All terminals are at 90º or 45º with open counters and optically altered shapes.

All the extrude shapes have been adjusted for a consistent weight and to avoid obscuring the letterforms. Extrudes from diagonal strokes have been redrawn entirely and those within counters have been reduced. Transitions between ﬂat extruded sides and adjoining curves have also been optically smoothed.

Finally, the distinctive chequered halftone was developed to produce smaller file sizes and aid rendering performance. Traditional halftone shading made with circles requires twelve data points to render each circle, whereas a square requires only four.

Results

Rig Shaded has developed into a four-weight, chromatic family (Light shown), each with two grades of halftone shading, Coarse and Fine, which emphasise Rig’s solid appearance.